Sri Lanka has signed an agreement with the World Bank for the second
Community Water Supply & Sanitation Project at the Auditorium of the
Ministry of Finance on June 24.

The International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank has
provided a grant of US $ 39.8 Million (approximately Rs. 3841 million) for
the implementation of the Second Community Water Supply & Sanitation
Project (2nd CWSSP). The total project cost is US $ 62.4 million
(approximately Rs. 6021 million) which comprised of US $ 39.8 million from
IDA, US $ 10.7 million (approximately Rs. 1032 million) from the
Government contribution and US $ 11.9 million (Approximately Rs. 1148
million) from the local communities.

The US $ 39.8 million of IDA funds can be considered as the biggest
ever grant extended to Sri Lanka by the World Bank.

Under this project, support will be extended to the Rural Water Supply
and Sanitation Sector Programmes in the North and East, North West and the
Central Provincial Councils. The Southern Province (Hambantota District)
will be included to the project after a feasibility study.

The development objective of the project is to increase service
coverage and achieve effective and sustainable Water and Sanitation
Services in rural communities. This objective will be achieved through (a)
Implementing demand responsive and sustainable Rural Water Supply &
Sanitation Services, providing safe drinking water and sanitation
facilities to the rural communities and (b) Strengthening capacities of
key stakeholder of central and local governments, communities and partner
organizations, to deliver and manage sustainable water supply and
sanitation services.

Major benefits of the project are : (i) time savings in accessing water
supply for drinking and domestic purposes (ii) public health benefits from
improved water services, increased sanitation coverage and improved
hygiene practices; (iii) more equitable sustainable and transparent
framework for government assistance in this sector and (iv) strengthened
private and public sector stakeholder leading to improved and more
efficient service delivery.

In this function, W.D. Ailapperuma, Secretary to the Ministry of
Housing & Plantation Infrastructure said "This project is aimed
at supplying safe drinking water and sanitation facilities to around 1000
villages, 12 small towns and selected estates, within the three provinces,
during project period of 6 years commencing from July 2003.

This project is unique in many ways. The methodology applied to this
project had been tested during the implementation of the First Community
Water Supply and Sanitation Project (1st CWSSP) and found to be very
successful. The first pilot project has been rated as the 'Best Practice'
and 'Well Managed' project by the World Bank among 200 similar projects in
the world. In the process of implementation, need and the demand of the
communities are catered through a mobilisation mechanism leading to an
emergence of a Community Based Organisation, which will take the total
responsibility of planning, designing and construction of water supply and
sanitation facilities. More importantly, the responsibility of operation
and maintenance of the facilities constructed will be undertaken by the
beneficiary organisation, relieving the Government and the Local
Authorities of heavy burden."

The Project Agreement was signed on Tuesday in Colombo by Peter Harrold,
Country Director of the World Bank and Charitha Ratwatte, Secretary,
Ministry of Finance on behalf of the World Bank and the Sri Lanka
respectively.

The grant agreement worth of US $ 39.8 million for the second phase of
the Community Water Supply and Sanitation Project (CWSSP) was signed at
the Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday. The Project
Agreement was signed by Peter Harrold, Country Director of the World Bank
and Charitha Ratwatte, Secretary, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the
World Bank and Sri Lanka respectively. W.D. Ailapperuma, Secretary to the
Ministry of Housing and Plantation Infrastructure and W. Piyasena,
Director of the CWSSP are also in the picture. - Picture by Susantha de
Silva.